The present invention relates to an acrylic fiber having cotton-like properties. Moreover, the present invention relates to a process for fabricating such an acrylic fiber.
Acrylic fibers developed hitherto have been advantageously utilized in the textile industry as stock materials for winter clothes, due to the excellent physical and chemical properties and wool-like feeling of the fibers. Numerous textile applications (e.g., under garments, bed linens, summer clothing, etc.) require the use of cotton and/or cotton-like fibers, which are soft to the touch and have excellent moisture absorption and diffusion properties. The very wool-like properties of acrylic fiber, (i.e., high density, low porosity, course touch, etc.) that provide for their use in winter clothes also prohibit their use in other textiles applications that require cotton-like qualities. Accordingly, numerous efforts have been implemented to render acrylic fibers suitable for use in textile applications where cotton fibers have been exclusively utilized.
For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,810,449 and British Patent No. 1,532,770, the entire subject matter thereof being incorporated herein by reference, a xe2x80x9cbicomponentxe2x80x9d acrylic fiber is disclosed having a core-jacket structure, the microporous core being capable of absorbing water while the jacket is not. However, this fiber maintains wool-like characteristics with no cotton-like feel.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,929,946 and 4,347,203, the entire subject matter thereof being incorporated herein by reference, relate to the production of acrylic fibers having internal voids therein. However, when forming multiple voids in acrylic fiber it is difficult to control the size and number of voids and, thus, the fiber is at the most not consistently reproducible, and at the very least yields a fiber that is unacceptably fibrillated. Additionally, such acrylic fiber remains unacceptably wool-like to the touch.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,455,347, the entire subject matter of which is incorporated herein by reference, refers to the preparation of an acrylic fiber having an uneven surface. Even though such acrylic fiber does not feel as wool-like as other acrylic fibers, it does not attain true cotton-like hand properties and such fiber does not adequately absorb moisture.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,812,361, the entire subject matter of which is incorporated herein by reference, relates to the construction of an acrylic fiber possessing a Y-type cross-section. This fiber has improved softness to the touch, but also does not attain true cotton-like hand properties and does not possess satisfactory moisture absorbing and diffusion properties.
Despite the number and variety of methods implemented to modify acrylic fibers, it has not yet been possible to readily produce acrylic fibers having properties that even remotely approach the desirable properties of cotton. Accordingly, there is a need in the textile industry for an acrylic fiber possessing not only a cotton-like feel, but also with cotton-like moisture absorbing and diffusing properties.
The present invention relates to an acrylic fiber, and method of production thereof, that possesses excellent moisture absorbing and diffusing properties, and moreover, a cotton-like feel.
In one embodiment, the present invention comprises a cotton-like acrylic fiber having a BYK Gardner Lustermeter (BGL) reflectance measurement of less than about 44.
In another embodiment, acrylic fiber of the present invention comprises an acrylic fiber having one or more internal voids and a denier of less than 1.5 dpf, including microdeniers less than 1.0 dpf. In a further embodiment, acrylic fiber of the present invention comprises less than two internal voids within a cross-section of the fiber and extending parallel to the fiber.